


This Just Dosen't Seem to be our Day

by 9xblue



Category: The Monkees, The Monkees (TV)
Genre: 1964, Angst, Bad Luck, Pre-Series, Takes place a few months after my first story, kidknapping, poor davy, short jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 23:57:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17611526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9xblue/pseuds/9xblue
Summary: The Monkees are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  It starts out with some bad luck, but gets worse as the day goes on, until our heroes find themselves in a dangerous situation.  Will they get to try again tomorrow?





	This Just Dosen't Seem to be our Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StarCollector88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarCollector88/gifts).



> I'm back, and excited to post again since I had so much fun writing the last story! I actually wrote the first part of this months ago, but put it on the back burner to write Birthday Blues. That plot was a little more straight forward than this one is going to be, and less over-whelming for a first complete story.

It was a chaotic scene at 1334 North Beechwood Drive. Even though it was a peaceful spring day in Malibu, inside was anything but. Four boys scrambled to ready themselves for a gig that started in less than two hours. Normally, they gave themselves plenty of time to pack up their instruments, get dressed in their matching band uniforms, and get to the gig at least an hour before their start so they can set up and have a sound check. Unfortunately, today had been one disaster after another, and they were left scrambling to get to the Vincent Van Go-Go anywhere near on time. 

It all started the night before when Micky realized that the perfect sized gears to complete his latest invention were the ones in their alarm clocks. He set up a replacement device to wake them up, but didn’t completely work out the kinks of Project: Good Morning before moving on. Unfortunately, it was an overcast morning, so the sun didn’t burn through the rope that put the needle on the record player he had rigged to play a bright tune to wake them up. The four band mates had all been up late rehearsing, so it was well into the day before they finally woke up naturally. Mike was the first awake, and after a lecture for Micky and a frenzied breakfast, he was quick to rally the troops to split the chores that needed to be done in preparation for their gig that evening. 

“Peter, Davy, you’re going to the music store, now you think y’all can handle that? I don’t need you gettin’ distracted today, just get in, get the replacement strings and extra picks that we need, and get back here on the double, you got that?” 

“Don’ worry, Mike, we’ve got it. We’ll be quick about it, and I’ll make sure Peter isn’t sidetracked” Davy replied, trying not to be put out by Mike’s tone. He knew their unofficial leader took on a lot of extra responsibility and was stressing out right now. 

“Yeah, don’t worry, Mike, in and out with the prings and sticks. We got it!” Exclaimed Peter, with an eager smile, trying to be helpful.

“Thanks, good buddy, I know you do” Mike said to Peter, as he gave Davy a pointed look indicating that he was in charge as he ushered them out the door. 

“Alright Micky, that leaves us with just a few hours to get our clothes to the laundromat so everything ready for tonight. We aren’t gonna have much time, so let’s try to get everything we need in one load. I’m thinking the cream shirts with the gray pants tonight. Can you go grab Peter and Davy’s from their room? Make sure you grab the spare shirt, too. Remember Peter had to wear it after he got a mustard stain on his last time.”

“Sure thing, Mike, I’m on it!” shouted Micky as he ran off, eager to make up for his earlier mistake. He met Mike with their bundles of clothes at the front door, and they were off to complete their errand.

______________________________

 

Davy and Peter pulled into the parking lot of Hewgley’s Music Shop, when a catchy melody began floating from the radio’s speakers as Peter started to turn off the ignition.  
“Oh Davy, I think this is the new Beatle’s song, Norwegian Wood, can we listen to it?” 

“Sure Petah, I’ve been wanting to hear this one myself.” Davy sat back and enjoyed the melody, taking in the song for the first time. He felt a little melancholy when he heard it. He and his friends had only been playing together for a about six months, but he hoped that all of their struggles would amount to something soon. He could only imagine the elation that he would feel if he heard Micky’s voice, Mike’s verses or Peter’s music drift over the airways someday. His friends had so much talent, and even though they were all so different, their differences complimented each other, and melded together into a final product that he though was pretty good, if he did say so himself! He just knew they would make it if the right people heard them. He shook himself from his daydreaming and looked at his watch only to see that 10 minutes had passed.

“Oh, Petah!” He yelled, startling his friend from his soft humming of the new song that had come on the radio. “We need to get going! We don’ need to give Mike any reason to say we were faffing around!”

Flustered, and unsure of exactly what Davy had said, as his accent tended to get thicker when he was upset, Peter switched off the radio, and they both scrambled out of the car. Twenty minutes later Davy and Peter strolled back across the parking lot, proudly carrying their assigned items. They were confident they would be able to get home and start making dinner before Mike and Micky returned. 

“Petah, toss me the keys, I can drive us back. I have a little money left, maybe we can stop at the market to pick up something for dessert.” Davy asked, holding out his hand for the keys. Peter patted his pockets, but didn’t feel the familiar shape of the key ring, or the jingle of metal. 

“I don’t seem to have them, did I give them to you?” 

They slowly met each other’s eyes, as they approached the car and the realization crept in. Looking in the window, their fears were confirmed. Peter had turned off the radio, but hadn’t taken the keys out of the ignition. They were now locked in the car.

“Oh no, Michael’s gonna kill me! And after he gave us such an important job!” Peter cried, as tears started leaking from his eyes. He really wanted to help Mike, who tried to take a big role in advancing their band. While Peter was the most accomplished musician, he felt like he still made a lot of mistakes that hindered their progress. They were close enough to walk home, but they would need the Monkee Mobile to get their instruments and equipment to the Vincent Van Go-Go later. It was a thirty minute drive, so it would be almost impossible to walk.

“Pete, Petah, it’s OK!” Davy cried, also becoming stressed, but trying not to show it. “There’s a locksmith that’s not too far from here, we’ll walk over and see if they can give us a ride back to get the keys out. No harm done!” Davy rubbed a consoling hand up and down Peter’s back as he slowly calmed down. 

They started to walk, but unfortunately, as Peter turned around, he didn’t see the edge of the curb through his remaining tears. He pitched forward, and despite his arms wind milling and Davy trying to grab him, he couldn’t quite find his balance. He ended up sprawled face down on the pavement. 

“Petah, are you alright?!” Davy asked as he rushed to his side. 

“I scraped my knee, but that’s not the worse part…” Peter replied, holding up a handful of smashed guitar picks.

“There’s still one or two good ones left, Peter. Here, let me hold those while we get you up,” Davy slipped the remaining picks into his pocket, to make sure their trip wasn’t a complete waste, then he pulled Peter to his feet while he brushed him off. 

“You’ve ripped your pants, and it looks like you’re bleeding, Babe” Davy informed Peter as he inspected the injured knee. “Sit down here, I’ll be right back”.

After making sure Peter was comfortable, Davy turned around and ran back into the music store. He returned minutes later with some wet paper towels and bandages. Peter gave Davy a soft smile as he cleaned his wound and bandaged him up. He knew he could be a bit of a dunce sometimes, and Davy was known for his short temper, but Davy was never anything less than patient and kind with him. Peter was happy to have such good friends in his life. One of the best decisions he had ever made was to invite Davy back to the pad for dinner last summer after realizing the young Brit was down on his luck. None of them had realized how incomplete their group sound had been until Davy joined. Who would have thought that his Broadway inspired vocals would be such a compliment to Micky’s rock and roll, Mike’s country and Peter’s folk sounds. He seemed to be the missing piece of the puzzle, both in their music and their lives. The perfect balance to Mike’s goofy maturity, Micky’s manic excitement, and Peter’s sweet naivety. 

“Alright Mate, good as new,” Davy patted Peter’s leg as he stood up. “Will you be able to walk with me, or do you want to wait here?” 

“I can walk with you, it feels much better now that it’s wrapped,” Peter replied, gesturing to his bandaged appendage.

“Alright then, off we go!” The two friends started walking down the street, trying out different harmonies to some of the Monkees songs that featured both of their voices, the distraction of the music putting both in a better mood. They made it to Lovitz and Sons locksmith’s shop in good time, and went inside as a little bell tingled above the door. An older gentleman with graying hair and wrinkles that spoke of a life filled with smiles and sunshine came out from the back. 

“Hello boys, what brings you in today?”

Davy stepped forward and explained the situation. The shop owner, Mr. Lovitz shook his head in sympathy and started flipping through a leger on the counter.  
“Well, I can’t leave the shop unattended, so we’ll have to wait until my oldest boy gets back from the job he’s on. Looks like he left about an hour ago, and it’s a simple lock out, so he should be back in the next twenty minutes.”

Davy and Peter both groaned but realized there was nothing to do but be patient. 

“I’ll go ahead and ring you up while we wait for him, what kind of car did you say you have?”

“It’s a convertible Pontiac GTO, a real beaut!” Davy exclaimed. “Unfortunately, we left the windows and top up today, otherwise we wouldn’t be in this mess.” The cloudy sky, and cold bite in the spring air made driving with the top down a little uncomfortable today. 

“Oh, a convertible, even better! That should be a pretty straight forward job, it won’t cost much at all. For the ride and the key extraction, just $15.”  
Davy and Peter checked their pockets, just $6.17 between them. 

“Maybe we could return these to Hewgley’s?” Peter asked, holding up the bag of guitar strings.

“Nah, that won’t get us to $15, and we’ll need them for the gig tonight anyway” Davy said sadly. They had a little bit of money in the emergency jar at home, but Davy wasn’t sure if they’d be allowed to come back with payment.

“A gig, oh are you boys musicians?” The shop owner asked.

“Yes, I play guitar, and a few other instruments. We’re in a band! And we have a gig tonight, we can’t miss it!” Peter was starting to get upset again.

Mr. Lovitz was frowning thoughtfully. An unfortunate situation indeed! They reminded him of his boys, his youngest son was even hoping to be a musician someday.  
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll make you a deal” the man offered. “Have you ever taught guitar?” He asked Peter.

“He’s a great teacher!” Davy cut in, hopeful to where this was leading. “He’s teaching me bass right now!”

“Well, I just happen to know a young man who dreams of playing guitar someday. If you would be willing to give my son lessons for…. Let’s say the next two months, then I’ll take the $6 and call it even.”

Peter’s entire face lit up. This was his chance to save the day! As the band member who most often needed to be bailed out of trouble, it was a good feeling to be the hero for a change! He was shaking hands on the deal almost before the locksmith was finished talking.

“You’ve got it! Just let me know when you want me to start!” He was aggressively pumping the shop owners arm up and down. Davy wondered if he would need to step in, but luckily, the man just laughed.

“My Jack will be thrilled, maybe we can start after school next week. But first, let’s get you to your gig! I think I hear my oldest in the back, come with me!”

He led the group through the workshop in the back, passed the shop’s keys to his son, then ushered Davy and Peter to his car. Finally, they were off! They gave directions to where the Monkee Mobile was stranded, and soon Mr. Lovitz was hard at work breaking in. The kindly middle-aged man had them on their way as quickly as possible, but the whole experience took much longer than the simple errand should have. They pulled into the drive-way of the pad right as Mike and Micky were walking up with their clean laundry.

“Are you two just now getting back?!” Mike exclaimed. He and Micky had had their own delays, and he had been hoping to come home to a freshly showered Peter and Davy, with dinner on the table. 

“Well you’re running a little late yourselves, aren’t you?” Davy countered.

“We had a few hold ups,” Micky explained, and Davy and Peter both noticed the death glare Mike sent his way.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Mike conceded. They didn’t have time to get into it right now. And if he relived what happened this afternoon at the laundromat with Micky, he might have trouble keeping his temper in check.

_______________________________

 

Three hours earlier Mike and Micky had collected the bands dirty uniforms, and left the pad. Someday they would have enough money and time to do a few loads and get ahead of their growing laundry pile, but today definitely wasn’t that day! They walked the three quarters of a mile to a little shopping district near the pad, and as soon as they neared the bicycle shop, Mike grabbed Micky and they crossed the street. Best to avoid any and every potential distraction today. A few store fronts down, they turned left into Conquest Laundromat. 

“Alright Mick, let’s get this goin’, we don’t got a lot of time.” Mike stepped over to an open washing machine and lifted the lid. He started fishing coins out of his pocket and fed them into the slots. He pushed a few buttons, and water started filling the machine. They had learned the hard way to follow the signs here, he wanted to make sure the water was covering the clothes before adding any bleach or soap. They couldn’t afford to ruin another load of laundry. Because no matter how much they tried to convince Davy that they were going for a tie-died look, he still refused to be seen in public wearing those unfortunate red/white spotted shirts. Mike couldn’t really blame him…

Micky started pulling out items of clothing, checking pockets and then handing them over to Mike to load. Mike was amazed at the pile of stuff Micky was collecting- pens, a bouncy ball, rocks, scraps of paper, a blue crayon, seeds, a tuning fork, movie ticket stubs, a sling shot, some screws, a jade statuette of a monkey… he shook his head. He didn’t now how his friends fit so much into the pockets of their tight band pants, but he would put everything in the bottom of the laundry bag to make sure each item got back to its rightful owner. Oops! He saw Micky place a Save the Texas Prairie Chicken button, hat-trimming scissors, and lyric sheets that he recognized in the pile with a smirk in his direction. He rolled his eyes, grabbed his possessions and returned to loading. 

Once they had finished, and Mike thought the water level was high enough, Micky went to get soap while Mike wandered over to the newspapers that had been left behind to see if any new gigs had been advertised. With the pay they earned tonight, they would be halfway to getting last month’s rent. He hated that feeling of struggling just to break even. He’d grown up with it, and had moved to California to get away from it once his mom had remarried and he knew his family would be taken care of. He felt like it was his responsibility to keep the band afloat, and being evicted or starving definitely were not on his agenda. He started circling possible gigs, and then moved on to looking at other job opportunities to make a little extra in the meantime. Then he started playing with figures on the side column, adjusting his budget numbers to see how much they would absolutely need by the end of the month just to stay in the status quo. He was interrupted from his accounting when Micky plopped down next to him with a sigh and a dreamy look plastered on his face.

“Hey Mike…” Micky intoned.

“Yeah, Mick?” Mike was still slightly distracted. He almost had their month’s finances figured out if they just moved a little bit of money from their water and electricity budgets, and two of them got part time jobs. Who needed daily showers anyway? And he really needed to bring back candles. Peter and Davy would probably love it, as the hippie and romantic in the group. He would really need to watch Micky around an exposed flame though... 

“What do April showers bring?”

“Uh… May flowers?” Mike was always up for a good joke, but he was pretty sure Micky had already messed up this punch line. What had gotten into him, anyway?

“Yeah! And June Pilgrims! What I mean to say is April brings May and June! I mean sisters, she brings twin sisters! I mean there are three of them!”

“Woah, slow down Micky, I don’t get that joke at all, what are you trying to say, man?”

“I mean, look over there!”

Mike looked where Micky was (rudely) pointing and could immediately tell why Micky was having trouble getting his thoughts together. Three of the prettiest girls he had ever seen were working the soap station.

“Mr. and Mrs. Conquest are off today, their daughters are watching the laundromat,” Micky stammered. “April, May and June. I love my calendar girls!” Suddenly Micky lit up. Mike groaned, they didn’t have time for one of Micky’s bright ideas today. But as long as he was finished by the time the laundry was, he didn’t see the harm. He watched as Micky ran back over to the soap station, sing an excited, off-key version of Calendar Girl. Mike fondly shook his head and as he went back to his paper. “I love, I love I love my little Calendar girls,” he sang along quietly from his seat. “Everyday, everyday of the year!” That Neil Sedaka really had some good tunes. Maybe someday someone would sing one of their songs to win a girl. Or three.

Just then Mike heard the timer ring on their washer. He folded up the paper and tucked it under his arm so he could look at it while the clothes were drying. He quickly transferred the clothes to the nearest dryer, put in his quarters and made his way back to the waiting area. Just 40 more minutes and they could head home with their clean laundry. He sat back, content to get some work done while he waited. 

Micky joined him again after a while, and he was treated to a constant stream of chatter about April, May and June Conquest. How pretty they were, how sophisticated, how intelligent. Each of them was planning to pursue careers that required advanced degrees, and April even hoped to take over the laundromat someday. Mike could tell Micky was smitten, and he didn’t even mind the distraction since it made the time pass quickly. Before long, they were back at the dryer, taking out the band uniforms and carefully folding them so they wouldn’t wrinkle. 

Mike suddenly paused in his folding as his eye caught something yellow on the shirt he was currently smoothing out. He lifted it up for a closer look and his stomach dropped. A mustard stain.

“Hey Mick, that mustard stain is still on Pete’s shirt from when he dropped his hot dog. How much soap did you put in?” He pulled another shirt closer for a sniff and recoiled. These definitely did not smell fresh! 

Micky froze beside him and looked up in horror. 

Mike immediately connected the dots and angrily started gathering the clothes. “You forgot to put the soap in, didn’t ya, Micky.”

Micky sheepishly nodded and tried to help restart the process as quickly as possible. This time he loaded, while Mike went and bought the soap. The Texan admitted to himself that he could see how Micky could get distracted. Any other day, and he would have tried to flirt a little, too, but he was on a mission now that they had wasted an hour and a half. He quickly got back to the machine and restarted the load. Now poor Micky was stuck next to a simmering Mike for the rest of the afternoon. He wasn’t sure what to say to make the situation better. He felt terrible.

Mike tried to take a deep breathe and look on the positive side. It didn’t do any good to get angry at this point. And he sort of felt like he had kicked a puppy, Micky looked so sad. “Well, let’s hope Davy and Peter are ready to go when we get back. Hopefully they’ll have dinner ready and everything packed when they see we’re running late,” Mike tried to assure himself and Micky. 

They finally emerged with their clean clothes three hours after they arrived, and started the walk home. But as they walked up Beechwood Drive, and Mike saw that Monkee Mobile pull into the driveway, he could feel his temper simmering again. Unfortunately, Davy and Peter stepped out of the car looking stressed and disheveled. Mike groaned, this just didn’t seem to be their day. He really hoped they got their act together. They couldn’t afford to lose this gig, and they were trying to build a good reputation, so they needed to be on time, prepared and looking their best! He knew at this point, the only thing that his anger would result in is a crying Peter, a cranky Davy and a more excitable/eager to please Micky. He felt like that would cause even more delays, so he bit his tongue and ushered his friends inside. 

 

To be continued…..

**Author's Note:**

> In my mind I'm imagining everything just a few years before the show took place. All of the locations were from the show or 1960's Malibu, because I'm OCD, lol. I know that Norwegian Wood came out in 1965, but I love that song, so I fudged that :)


End file.
